The Ironhearts' Curse
by TheCurlyheaded
Summary: Jinette calls Van Helsing to assign him to kill the Skandinavian Lich. In his cabinet he meets Katharsis Ironheart, who he had met three years before in strange circumstances. Who is she? And how can she help him with defeating the Lich?
1. So Nice To See You Again

**Chapter 1 - So Nice To See You Again**

It was late, night had fell over Rome a long time ago. 

In the basements of St. Peter's Basilica there was a small chamber, where bright flames were blazing in a small stone fireplace, illuminating large, colorful gobelins and beautifully ornamented furniture. In the middle of the room, there stood a large arm chair in front of the fire place. Gabriel Van Helsing was sitting in it, watching the flames dance and crackle on the hearth. 

He sank deeper into his chair and placed his bare feet closer to the flames. At once he felt pleasant warmth flowing into his toes and beginning to spread through his body.   
He murmured pleasantly and reached a cup of wine on a near by table. He slowly placed the cup to his lips and took a small sip. 

The wine was sweet, exactly the way Van Helsing liked it. He put the cup back on the table, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was very tired. He had waited so long for this moment of relaxation in his chambers, sitting in favourite armchair, warming his feet in front of the fire and drinking some good wine. A few hours ago, he had come back to the Vatican after a long journey. This time, he had come from Lisbon - he had been sent to kill a werewolf murdering people during nights which had a full moon. The wolves presence had thrown the community into confusion and panic. 

To tell the truth, it had been one of the easier tasks - he hadn't had to strain a lot to find the creature's den and put it to death. The whole mission had lasted less than a months. In fact, the journey to Lisbon and back was longer than his whole stay there. 

Van Helsing's present life had begun the moment when the members of The Knights of The Holy Order had found him lying unconscious on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica. This was the first thing he could remember of his new life. Who he was and what he did before then, he did not know.

After that The Knights of the Holy Order had sent him to a monastery in Istanbul for a one-year training session. The monks taught him everything the Holy Order wanted him to know including martial arts, proper use of weapons, all the evil creatures living in the world and how to destroy them. 

Since then, he has worked for the Order, killing the monsters they told him to kill, but it never seemed to stop. No one could ever tell how many of them were living on Earth, hiding and lusting for human blood. 

When he had to kill something, he tended to did it fast and low-key. However, during last two years, some things went wrong and he was often noticed by somebody undesirable. As a result, his face was placed upon wanted posters all over Europe. Cardinal Jinette, his superior, was not pleased with that.

A loud crack of a burning log shook Van Helsing from his slumber. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. He looked back at his bed and knew he should turn in. Get a proper night's sleep, instead of dozing in his chair. 

He stood up and walked over to his bed. He was just about to lie down and fall asleep when suddenly, he heard the clank of the key in the lock and the door loudly creaked opened.

"Gabriel, hurry! Cardinal Jinette needs you!" cried Friar Bernard, the monastic secretary. 

"Cardinal Jinette? What's the matter?" asked Van Helsing quickly donning his shoes. 

"Heaven knows, but I'm sure it is something important!" said the Friar and closed the door behind Van Helsing as the hunter had already raced from the room.

They rushed across the dark corridors in the basements of the basilica, until they stood up next to the large, ornamented door of Cardinal Jinette's grand chambers.

"Go on in. And may God be with you," sighed Bernard, opening the door.

Van Helsing stepped over the threshold and looked around the room. His eyes fell upon a figure... and he froze from amazement.

There was a person standing inside that he had not expected to see.

"Gabriel Van Helsing... So nice to see you again." said a tall woman with short, red hair. Her clothes were soaked to the skin from the night rain. Her dark eyes was gazing at him with amusement. She was wearing a dirty, red band on her forehead and a large cross made of silver around her neck. She was dressed in a long, black, leather coat with many pockets. Her coat shimmered due to the tiny droplets of water, reflected by the dim light of the candles in the room. She also wore a sword and two pistols on her belt. She was exactly as he remembered. She hadn't changed a bit.

"Katharsis Ironheart..." Van Helsing said slowly, frowning as he walked into the room.

"I've heard many things about you over these past three years." She laughed ironically, reached into one of the pockets of her coat and taking out a crumpled wanted poster. The poster bore Van Helsing's profile. "Even a lot." 

"I was just about the opposite of you." Van Helsing said coldly, not reacting at all to the blustering.

"I am not surprised." she replied, shrugging her shoulders and putting the wanted poster back to the pocket. "I do my job quietly... I don't give publicity of my existence..." she added with a scoff.

Van Helsing felt himself grow hot under the collar.

"Do you really think-" 

The cabinet opened suddenly, cutting off Van Helsing as an old, gray hair man in a red habit came in. He was Cardinal Jinette, the head of The Knights of The Holy Order. He carried a few rolls of greaseproof paper under his arm and a clean towel in the other hand. He threw the towel to Ironheart, who immediately started to wipe down her wet hair. 

"Sit down, my children" the Cardinal said with a strong voice voice, hoarse from oldness but still full of energy and determination. He pointed to two empty chairs in front of a large table. "We don't have much time." 

Van Helsing and Ironheart sat down, as far away from each other as they possibly could. Cardinal Jinette sat between them and put the rolls of paper on the table. He unreeled one, a contemporary map of Europe. 

"Now you have to listen to me carefully and please do not interrupt!" he stressed the last word, looking at Ironheart threateningly. When she nodded humbly, he continued.

"The whole history of this story begins in the eleventh century in the west part of Norway, precisely in the lands around the Trondheim fjord. " The Cardinal said, pointing to the area on the map. "The Heldars, one of the Viking tribes, lived there for many years. They were perhaps the cruelest people of Scandinavia. They invaded nearby villages, robbed and killed all inhabitants, even women and children! Both of you know well the atrocity of this world." he sighed, wiping his eyes, "So I don't have to tell you what the Heldors did with their prisoners. The poor souls were killed in horrid ways, many of them sacrifices for their gods. In fact, they were so efficient, before long, a great majority of Norway was destroyed. Population and all."

Ironheart nodded her head wistfully. Van Helsing smelt the fragrance of her wet hair drifting to his nose. 

"Some of the other tribes in Scandinavia had felt at risk, so they decided to end their war with the Heldars once and for all. The tribes had united and defeated Heldarian people in the great battle at Sternkjer. Everyone of them was killed." The Cardinal sighed and put his hands together,"And now we get to the climax of our story. All the dead bodies of Heldars warriors have been buried in the caves in the rocky shores of Trondheim fjord. Exact locations are unknown. The victorious tribes had brought in a group of powerful wizards from southern Europe who had excommunicated the Heldars. From this time on, their souls could not go peacefully to Valhalla. They had been captived in their dead bodies, which were not able to rot and disappear, defying the laws of nature. The leader was placed alone, in the different cave than his warriors. Then the caves were sealed and they have been there for thousands of years."

Cardinal Jinette paused for a moment. 

"But... it was possible to free them, wake them up from their eternal dreams and cause them to reawaken and fight again." He spoke with a raised voice, "The curse was placed in a book, which was hidden back then as well. If someone finds it and read the spell, the leader will awaken. And he will do anything and everything to regain his warriors!"

"Father, please, don't tell me that somebody did this!" cried Ironheart, standing up quickly from her chair. 

"Yes. Of course. I would not have brought you here if it had not happened." said the Cardinal with an impatient voice "A group of Norwegian boys were playing in the caves and found this book. They read the spell and..."

"The leader awoke" ended Van Helsing.

"Yes, exactly. He stood up from the grave as a lich."

"A lich?!" questioned Ironheart and Van Helsing at the same time.

"Oh, yes, you do not know what a lich is. Neither of you have dealt with them." Said Jinette quietly, attentively gazing at their faces. "So, imagine a dead human body that is advancedly decomposed, but still living, moving and talking. This is a lich." 

"Holy God" groaned Ironheart.

"That is not all you need to know. As I said before, the leader wants to wake up his old companions, but he does no know how to do that. I suspect he does not have the book or he does not know how to use it. If he had, he would not have already started murdering people in Trondheim." The Cardinal stood up from his chair "That is why you are both here. This is your mission. You cannot allow him to find out how to awaken his comrades. You will go to Trondheim and find the way to destroy him before he reawakens his army."

"Uhm... father... why did you say "we"? Why can't I just take this mission by myself?" said Ironheart, looking at Van Helsing coldly.

"Yes, why can't I just go to Trondheim without her?" replied Van Helsing, repaying her with the same reluctant gaze. 

The Cardinal smiled and patted both of them on shoulders.

"I am sure that you will take a liking to each other in time. Now stop looking at yourself like that and listen! You have tomorrow to rest and pack what you need for your journey. You will both leave tomorrow night."

The Cardinal stopped talking for a moment and took out a large envelope from his robe.

"Remember, when you get to Hamburg, look for my good friend, Hienrich Rubenstein. Ask the town residence, they will know who is he and tell you where he lives. He is a well-known port entrepreneur. Give him this letter and he will take you aboard the ship earliest to Norway." Said the Cardinal and pressed the envelope into Van Helsing's hand.

"That is all I wanted to say. Go rest now, my dears. You both face a long journey."


	2. A Cold Night In 1887

Van Helsing perfectly remembered what had happened two years ago. It was as clear as though it happened yesterday. He had been in France then, in Paris, to kill Barquest - the evil dog haunting a cemetery in one of the city's districts. It had been extremely aggressive towards humans and had been killing them.

This winter night was very frosty. The ground was covered with plenty of white, soft snow. The icy air was like glass and the moon was pouring a bright, silvery glow over the cemetery. Van Helsing had hid himself in the vestibule of a large tomb and waited in darkness for the monster appearance. He had an excellent view to the gate of the graveyard and to the main boulevard from there. It was perfect positioning as he had heard that Barquest had been attacking there.

The hours had been passing by, but there was still nothing to see except a few snowflakes, which were falling from gently from the sky. The frost was biting, pricking the skin like needles. Van Helsing's gloves, although thick and warm, had given up and his fingers were completely numb with cold. 

Van Helsing's patience finally ended. He ceased watching for the monster and sat down on the stone threshold of the tomb. He put his gun away and started rubbing his hands together for a little warmth. He was getting nervous and doubted the success in killing the monster that night.

Suddenly, he heard a loud bump somewhere close by. In a second he reached for his weapon and raised his head, but he saw nothing. Everything was just as it had been a few hours ago.

He leaned out behind the wall of the tomb slightly, keeping his gun ready for a shot. He ran his eyes over the cemetery slowly and... laid eyes upon a slumped, dark profile, neither human, nor canine, slipping noiselessly among the graves.

He pointed the weapon to the shape as always. The roar of the bang penetrated the silence of the night.

The figure stopped, rolled and fell down behind a high gravestone. Van Helsing wasn't exactly sure if he killed the creature or if it is still alive. He started to creep quiet and carefully to the place where his silver bullet reached Barquest, still holding his postal should the monster attack again. All of a sudden, a mighty blow to the back of his head bowled him over, just before he saw red stains of blood on the snow. A sharp pain exploded in the centre of his skull, blinding his eyes and overpowering his body. A second after he was hit again, this time in his jaw. His gun seemed to be like a huge piece of lead as it fell down from his hand.

In spite of the force of the blow that shook his balance, the blood in his mouth and the pain deafening his mind, he knew that he had to defend himself. His befuddled eyes couldn't entirely see anything at all; they hardly appointed the dark figure from the darkness. He rushed for his gun lying on the snow, as fast as he could.

"Forget it." A quite and quivering, but resolute voice spoke.

When the pulsing pain in his head eased off, he saw who had attacked him. A tall woman stood about two meters from him, keeping a revolver pointing straight at his forehead. She pressed her shoulder with her free hand. Her fingers were covered in blood, heavy red drops were falling down on the white snow. The bright glow of the moon created a ghostly impression on her deathly pale face. 

But Van Helsing didn't move his hand away from his pistol.

"Throw it away. Now." she said, stressing the last word. Van Helsing could see the bright red blood leaking out of her shoulder. It made him sure that he shot her through the artery.

"Didn't you hear me? Throw it!" she cried with a nervous voice.

"Will you shoot me, if I won't?" Van Helsing asked, looking into her dark eyes.

"Yes, I will." something in her voice and a clang of her gun told him she wasn't joking. He threw his weapon away. 

Suddenly, a strange shape came out from the darkness behind the woman. Van Helsing felt a thrill going through his back. He had already knew what is this.

The first thing he saw was a pair of red eyes and white fangs. An atrocious whirr sounded in the air. Barquest, the evil dog, strained for an attack.

Everything happened in a few seconds.

"What the he..." started the woman when she turned back, but she didn't end. Barquest jumped on her, pushing her to the closest tomb.

Van Helsing reacted in a flash. He reached for his gun, turned to the dog and shot.

The bullet hit the beast right under the ear. It whined shortly, staggered and fell down to the ground. It shimmered convulsively for a moment, groaning quietly, but soon it lay dead.

Van Helsing fired three bullets more into the creature's head to make sure it is dead.   
Then he looked at the woman. 

She lied unconscious on the ground. Bright streaks of blood were shining on the tomb. She had to have hit the tomb with her head; the snow around it was saturated with scarlet blood, which looked like a grotesque saint's halo. Her eyes were half-opened and her face was paler than the snow, so for a short moment Van Helsing thought she is dead. 

He took his black scarf out of his pocket and he tied it around her wound.

"Well, that's all I needed." he thought.

He knew that he couldn't leave her there. He took her in his arms and took her to the room he had rented at a nearby inn. He put her on his bed and dressed both of her wounds. He always carried some medicine in his baggage. He bandaged her hurt head tightly and took the bullet out of her shoulder with a long tweezers.

When her body began to warm up and she started to breathe regularly, Van Helsing breathed a sight of release. He reached for a bottle of French wine standing on a table nearby and took a sip, not paying any attention to the fact that he didn't have a cup. He looked at the woman. She had short, red hair and a little dark mole on her left cheek. She also wore a red band around her head.

Van Helsing started to wonder what he should do with her.

"Well, it will be good for her to recover a bit. I can let her stay here for a few days," he decided. 

Who the heck was she? What was she doing in that cemetery in the middle of the night and armed as well? Why was she creeping quietly among the graves? He didn't know. He didn't even have any idea what to think about the whole event. He desided he would ask her about that when she woke up.

Therefore, he sat down on a chair near the bed and started to clean his gun. He couldn't think of a better thing to do.

After more or less an hour he heard a quiet moan. The red-haired woman turned her head and ran her eyes over the room. When she saw Van Helsing, twitched and tried to get up, but she was too weak and after a moment she sank down to the pillow with a sigh.

"You shouldn't try that. You need to lie down," he said.

"You..." she replied with a hoarse voice "Why did you try to kill me?"

Van Helsing stood up from the chair.

"If I wanted to kill you, I would just do that."

She moved her hand slowly and touched the bandage on her head.

"Right" she said quietly "So why did you shoot me?"

"It wasn't you I wanted to shoot" he replied while pouring some wine to two cups he had received from the inn keeper downstairs.

"So to whom did you want to shoot?!" anger filled her weak voice. 

"Maybe you have heard people complaining about a beast haunting local cemetery." he answered patiently.

A barely discernible shade went thought the woman's face. She was silent.

"Here," he said giving her a cup, "A sip of good wine will make you feel better."

She took the cup from his hand, not looking into his eyes.

"Would you mind telling me your name?" he asked.

A moment passed by before she answered:

"I'm Katharsis Ironheart. And you?"

"Gabriel Van Helsing."

"Van Helsing..." she drank some wine "I guess you're that Van Hel-"

"Yes, I am," he cut her "Well, Katharsis, I have a question to you. I was wondering, what were you doing on the graveyard tonight? Why did you have a gun?"

She looked at him.

"I have heard people complaining about a beast haunting local cemetery." she answered.

Van Helsing raised his eyebrows.

"You mean-"

"I mean," she gasped and gave him the cup back "That I feel too bad to talk even a few seconds. My head hurts and I would like to have some sleep now."

Van Helsing gazed at her for a moment.

"Of course" he said finally "Goodnight".

Katharsis Ironheart closed her eyes and sighed. Her breath became regular soon. Van Helsing, deprived of his bed, took his coat and put it on the floor. He lied down on it and he fell asleep soon.

Severe bright rays of winter sun flowing out of the window woke him up. The sun stood in the zenith, so it had to be about the noon. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He directed his still sleepy look to the bed, which Ironheart lay on. He had already opened his mouth to say "good morning" to her, but... he saw the bed was empty. He immediately stood up and ran his eyesight over the whole room. Ironheart's coat and shoes disappeared. The key was in the doorlock, but Van Helsing remembered he had left it on the table before he went to sleep.

She was gone.

Katharsis Ironheart entered her room in the basements of the St. Peter's Basilica, and closed the door carefully. Her chamber was really small, but she needn't anything bigger. She liked it the way it was - a bed in the corner, a bookshelf with a lot of books nearby, a wardrobe, in which Katharsis never kept anything, a table, a mirror, a purple patterned carpet, a masterfully carved armchair with a satin upholstery and, of course, a large fireplace, where the bright, warm fire was blowing.

Katharsis liked this room a lot, although she stayed in it so rarely. She arrived today and she had to leave tomorrow.

She frowned. Leave. This time to Norway. This time with Van Helsing. She didn't want to go with him.

She came to the mirror and took of her leather corselet. She touched the naked skin of her right arm. She sensed a big, stringy scar after a wound under her fingers.

She remembered this night perfectly, the moment, when the bullet hit her arm, the horrible pain and blood going through her fingers. Cold butt of her gun, hitting Van Helsing's jaw. Barquest jumping on her.

Van Helsing's captured, mysterious face when she woke up in his bed. The taste of the wine he gave her.

She wondered, what would he say if he knew that she had a room rented in the same inn? That she watched him leaving the inn through the window.

He couldn't know, but she guessed, why Cardinal Jinette sent them both to that cemetery. The cardinal just didn't know what exactly Barquest was.

And she also knew, why Jinette wanted them both to kill the lich. But she hadn't abandoned the hope she would take this mission alone. She brought some books about necromancy into her room because she wanted to read something about lichens. She was going to prove Cardinal Jinette that she did have skills to kill this creature by herself.

She didn't wanted to go with Van Helsing not because she didn't like him or something like that. No, it all was about her secret, the dark side of her personality that was known only by her and Cardinal Jinette. If she went to fight the lich with Van Helsing, she would have to tell him about it.

Katharsis took off the silver cross from her neck and the band from her head. Red locks of hair feel on her forehead, covering her dark brown eyes. She undressed herself completely before taking a long, silk nightdress out of the wardrobe and put it on.

She was just about going to the bed, but suddenly she turned back. She opened the wardrobe and reached to one of the pockets of her coat. She got a small, round medallion made of gold out.

Katharsis sighed and opened it. There was a small, indistinct photograph of five smiling people. A woman with long, wavy hair was carrying a baby; a man standing next to her was tall and bald on the top of his head. There were also two children - an about four-year-old boy and a girl with the same hair as her mother, dressed in a pretty white dress.

Katharsis was this girl. She was seven when this photo was taken. Sorrow clenched her heart, as always, when she looked at her family, dead long time ago. She had not forgotten that night, that heat if flames, that awful smell of smoke, their horrified, desperate screams.  
On the golden surface of the medallion was engraved an inscription; "For Katharsis for the seventh anniversary of her birthday - Mother and Father. 24 VII 1866".

She ran her eyesight full of grief through her parents' and siblings' faces. "I miss you so much" she thought when she closed the medallion.

She put it back. She always had it in the pocket above her heart, wherever she was.


	3. Setting Off To Skandinavia

A mild gloom covered Katharsis's face as she left Saint Peter's Basilica and stood in the courtyard. The night was very warm and there was no wind, so she wore only a linen shirt. She sighed, put her traveling bag on her shoulder and moved towards the stables. She gripped her medallion tightly in hope that this beloved item would take off a little bit of the anger and bitterness inside. The quarrel with Cardinal Jinette was still booming in her mind, making her frown and bite her lips. 

She read a bit about lichens at the monastic library last night and reached a conclusion that she can kill the Heldors' leader by herself with no problem. And, of course, she wouldn't need Van Helsing to do that, because it is not possible to kill a lich with mechanical weapons. She went to the Cardinal and tried to force him to cut Van Helsing from the mission in Scandinavia. A loud, unpleasant quarrel ensued, during which impetuous Katharsis showed an exceptional disrespect for older man. Unfortunately for her, Cardinal Jinette stayed on his way.

"How do you dare to speak to me that way?! I do not need you to tell me what to do! You will go with Gabriel Van Helsing on this mission and you WILL tell him about your secret whither you like it or not."

No. She didn't like it. No one except the Cardinal and her dead parents didn't knew about her dark side. Her godsend, like Jinette called it.

Godsend? Absolutely not. It was rather curse, than a godsend. How she wished she were a normal person, living peacefully with her family in their old house in England rather than this.

Van Helsing almost killed her three years ago, leaving an ugly, stringy scar on her and yesterday he "stole" the exclusive honor of this mission from her (Katharsis was sure that she will play a bigger role in it than he would anyway). And now this man was going to know her secret! But if they were going to co-operate, she had to tell him.

An evening mass began in the basilica. Katharsis could hear the monks singing.

"Anima Christi, sanctifica me.  
Corpus Christi, salva me.  
Sanguis Christi, inebria me…"Katharsis's steps resounded with echo around the courtyard. The lanterns were shining bright, giving her pale face a strange expression and dispersing the pleasant gloom. She looked at them with reluctance. She liked darkness. She felt safe in it.

Suddenly, she felt resigned and tired.

Yes, she was tired with everything, beginning from long and difficult way to Vatican without adequate resting, through the quarrel with the man she loved the most, ending on the bottle of Scotch whisky she emptied yesterday evening. She reconciled with the fact she had to spend the next few months with that darn Van Helsing. 

"Aqua lateris Christi, lava me.  
Passio Christi, conforta me.  
O bone Iesu, exaudi me…"

Katharsis left the basilica's courtyard and turned right into a small, cobbled alley. She walked down it until she saw the stables. She pulled the brass handle of the huge, wooden door and walked in. A sharp fragrance of straw, horse fur and dung flew into her nose. She carefully lit an old lamp hanging from the ceiling.

"Hebron." she said and pecked softly when she noticed her beloved chestnut mare in a stall nearby. The animal woke up and looked at her with its wise, dark eyes.

Ironheart opened the door to the stall and came in. She took a sugar cube out of her pocket and gave it to the mare.

"That's for you, my dear." she said and stroked the black, velvet mane of the mare with affection and watched it happily chewing the sugar. "I hope you had a good rest, because tonight we are setting off for another long journey."

Katharsis patted the forehead of the horse and went out of the stall with a silent sigh. She walked to the other side of the stable to take Hebron's saddle and harness of the wall. Suddenly she heard the sound of steps outside. She turned back quickly and saw Van Helsing entering the room with a young, anxious friar trailing behind him.

Ironheart took her breath loudly, she did not like this.

"Good evening, Katharsis," Van Helsing said with a slight smile and gestured to the young man beside him, "Let me introduce to you my friend Carl. He will be accompanying us on our journey."

"He's not going with us." She said with a hard voice.

Van Helsing looked at her.

"Yes, he is." He responded peacefully.

"No, he is not." She muttered through her teeth. She felt her cheeks slowly growing hot while she looked at the puzzled friar. He was moving his eyes from Van Helsing to Ironheart in confusion. 

Suddenly, the door opened and another man entered the stables.

"Yes, he is." said Cardinal Jinette, standing behind Carl and placing his hand on the friar's shoulders. "I think you will need someone who knows Latin and other ancient languages. I guarantee he will be useful when you will find the book."

Katharsis's cheeks were pure red and her mouth became so narrow it could be barely seen, but she said nothing. She was fed up with quarrelling with the Cardinal and she knew the eventual discussion would be senseless. Swallowing the words of protest, she turned back and walked away to get the saddle and harness for her horse.

She felt like she was close to exploding with anger. Why wasn't she informed about Van Helsing's silly little friend going with them? Now there was another comrade for this journey and another person to find out about her secret. She cursed under her breath and took everything she needed from the shelf.

She saw that the three men were standing over a large piece of parchment, which was probably a map, because Van Helsing had put his finger on it and moved it along, saying something quietly to Carl and the Cardinal.

Ironheart turned her back on them and started attaching her baggage to Hebron's saddle. 

"Katharsis," she heard Cardinal Jinette's voice calling her. She took a deep breath and turned her head to see him staring at her with a resolute look.

"Come here, please. We want to agree the way to Hamburg." said Van Helsing, not raising his eyes from the map.

Trying to calm herself down, Katharsis buttoned up the last bag and then walked towards the three men.

"Okay," uttered Van Helsing when he saw Ironheart come at least. He placed his finger on Rome. "My proposal is to go through Orvieto and Florence first, cross the Apennines here, in the valley of the river Reno and then head to Verona. Carl, don't stand and do nothing. Please start preparing our horses!" said Van Helsing and glanced at Carl, who sighed, rolled his eyes and walked away.

Van Helsing smiled and bent over the map again. Katharsis saw some shiny, grey strands in his thick, brown hair.

"Where was I... ah, here." he continued, "So, we will cross the Alps and then get to Munich, Germany. Next, our way will lead through Nuernberg and Turin Forest. After that we will pass the Harz Mountains and finally get to the port of Hamburg."

Van Helsing raised his head and looked at Katharsis with his hazel eyes.

"Any suggestions?" He asked politely, his eyes moved down to her still rosy cheeks. 

"No, I think that's okay," responded Katharsis and went back to Hebron to check if everything was properly prepared for the journey. When she made sure she took everything she needed and her traveling bag was strongly attached to the saddle, she led her mare out of the stables.

The evening gloom shaded from dark blue to deep black with some bright spots of stars in the distance. The gentle zephyr transformed into a quite strong wind that blew Ironheart's red hair into all sides.

"What a pleasant end of a hot day," she thought, turning her face to the cool wind.

A moment later Van Helsing and Carl were leading their horses from the stable as well.

"Ready?" asked Ironheart.

"Yes." replied Van Helsing.

"Let's go then." She said, deftly jumping on Hebron's saddle.


End file.
